1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to communication systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to a novel and improved method for providing rate and service negotiation in a wireless communication system.
2. Description of the Related Art
The use of code division multiple access (CDMA) modulation techniques is one of several techniques for facilitating communications in which a large number of system users are present. Other multiple access communication system techniques, such as time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA) and AM modulation schemes such as amplitude companded single sideband (ACSSB) are known in the art. However the spread spectrum modulation technique of CDMA has significant advantages over these modulation techniques for multiple access communication systems. The use of CDMA techniques in a multiple access communication system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,307, issued Feb. 13, 1990, entitled "SPREAD SPECTRUM MULTIPLE ACCESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM USING SATELLITE OR TERRESTRIAL REPEATERS", assigned to the assignee of the present invention, of which the disclosure thereof is incorporated by reference herein.
A method for transmission of speech in digital communication systems that offers particular advantages in increasing capacity while maintaining high quality of perceived speech is by the use of variable rate speech encoding. The method and apparatus of a particularly useful variable rate speech encoder is described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,414,796, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, of which the disclosure thereof is incorporated by reference herein.
A variable rate speech encoder provides speech data at full rate when the talker is actively speaking, thus using the full capacity of the transmission frames. When a variable rate speech coder is providing speech data at a less that maximum rate, there is excess capacity in the transmission frames. A method for transmitting additional data in transmission frames of a fixed predetermined size, wherein the source of the data for the data frames is providing the data at a variable rate is described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,504,773, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, of which the disclosure thereof is incorporated by reference herein. In the above mentioned patent a method and apparatus is disclosed for combining data of differing types from different sources in a data frame for transmission.
As digital communication systems become more prevalent, applications of the systems are growing. As the applications available grow, there is an increasing probability of differing capabilities between devices on each end of a communication link. Such differing capabilities can be in the form of encoding or decoding frame structure formats, or in service types provided or in data rates supported. As the probability of differing capabilities grows there is an increasing need for service negotiation between devices attempting to communicate in a wireless communication system.